Protection
by Phoenix Boy
Summary: Tachibana is going back to Kyushu for senior high and isn't sure that he wants to leave his sister unsupervised at Fudomine with only his teammates for company.
1. Protection

Tenipuri crack generator again (starting to be a habit), this time it's Tachibana An/Sanada Genichirou and 'protection'

**Title: **Protection  
**Rating: **PG  
**Word Count: **500  
**Summary: **Tachibana is going back to Kyushu for senior high and isn't sure that he wants to leave his sister unsupervised at Fudomine with only his teammates for company.

* * *

"You know, An," Kippei said, studiously not looking at her. "I've got over what I did to Senri: you don't have to suffer with me at a school without a team any more. Go to a school with a proper girls' team, not the mess they have at Fudomine. You do all your real training with me anyway at the moment and you won't be able to next year."

"I kind of like it at Fudomine," she said, sneaking a look at him out of the corner of her eye. "I think Kamio might actually get up the guts to ask me out once you're not breathing down his neck and I won't have to go chasing Seigaku's Momoshiro any more."

That earner her a sharp glance, which he carefully schooled back into nonchalance.

"Promise me you'll think about it, at any rate. I don't like going off and leaving you alone here but . . ."

"But Fudomine doesn't have an associated high school and you don't think there's a place for you at any of the schools in Kantou with a decent team. Where do you think I should go then?"

"Seigaku, maybe."

"Only because you know Fuji would take your place scaring off any potential boyfriends."

"You know, if you'd tried dating Yuuta like I suggested, you wouldn't be having this problem."

An gave him a hard look.

"You only approve of him because he's too scared of you to try anything and his brother only approves because I'm a better bet than that weirdo manager."

There was a long silence as Kippei found that he couldn't deny it.

"Rikkai, then?"

"Apart from the fact that I'd have to live in dorms? No, actually I think I could handle that. I'm not sure I could stick being in classes with Kirihara, even if he has reformed himself."

Kippei sighed.

"To be completely honest, he's no worse than I was a couple of years ago. Give the kid a chance. Besides, Rikkai's high school is on the same campus and I'm sure that Yukimura and Sanada will be keeping an eye on him."

"I'll think about it, okay. No promises."

"That's all I wanted."

A few months later, An walked onto RIkkai's main campus as a transfer student the day before classes started and headed straight down to the tennis courts which both of the junior high teams shared.

"What do you want?" came the abrupt question from the looming figure of Sanada, who was leaning against the fence post, watching as Kirihara scrambled about the courts, fighting to get things ready for the beginning of term.

"Tachibana An," she said with a beaming smile. That was something she'd learned from Kippei's friend Fuji - a smile tended to unnerve people. It seemed to worked on Tezuka-san anyway. An gestured towards the racket bag hanging from her shoulder. "I'm joining the girls team."

He actually looked at her that time, recognising the name perhaps. He blushed slightly and pointed towards what had to be the clubroom. An headed off, politely holding in her smirk until after she'd passed him. And Kippei was trusting that Rikkai's Troika would be keeping hormones under control? Honestly! Tennis players were all the same and this one even appeared to be straight! This was going to be fun.

* * *


	2. Realisations

**Title: **Realisations  
**Rating: **PG  
**Word Count: **1200  
**Summary: **Kippei comes home at the end of term and finds out what An's been getting up to at her new school.

* * *

When Kippei got home for summer break immediately after Nationals, he was unsurprised to find that no one was at home. His parents woudl both be working and there was really no reason for An to hang around alone at home when she could be out with her friends. Now that she was at Rikkai, boarded in the school dorms in Kanagawa, so she didn't have much opportunity to see her friends from Fudomine so often.

Leaving his bags in his room, he picked up his tennis bag and headed down to the street courts. Even if An wasn't there, chances were that some of his old team from Fudomine would be playing, in the hope of an informal game with one of the Seigaku or Hyotei players who weren't infrequent guests there.

When he reached the courts, he hung back in the bleachers for a moment, scanning the courts. During the holidays, all of the players were in street clothes, not having come straight from school practice, and were a bit harder to identify. That said, the court closest to him was clearly Kamio/Ibu against another pair, probably younger and relatively new regulars on their team. He scanned further along, eventually spotting An on the end court, playing a game of mixed doubles.

He wandered along, staying well back to avoid making a fuss. It wasn't so much that he was ridiculously popular so much as that his friends from Tokyo hadn't seen him for a couple of months and tended to be somewhat loud at the best of times. Even Shinji, who was at least relatively quiet, never shut up.

It is with some surprise that he recognises the boys that An's playing with, though he should have guessed, given that she was a regular on Rikkai's girls' team. While he was of the general opinion that Yukimura Seiichi was capable of more or less anything tennis related, he'd never taken Sanada Genichirou for a keen doubles player, much less as someone An would recruit as a partner. He sighed. That wasn't really true: An was much like Fuji in her love for pulling people outside their comfort zone.

Surprisingly, the An/Sanada pair seemed to be holding their own, though Kippei could see that Yukimura wasn't playing particularly seriously. Listening carefully, he caught the score as Yukimura called the game (5-3) and decided that he might as well watch until they finished the match.

"Welcome back, Kippei-kun," came a soft voice from beside him. Kippei turned, startled; he hadn't heard anyone approach.

"Fuji! You're not playing today?"

"No. Chitose told his sister who told Tezuka who told me that you were getting back today and I thought I might find you here. An's playing well."

"I hadn't thought to see her on court with those two."

"I assume you mean the demons rather than the other girl? According to Hyotei's Jirou, who's friends with Rikkai's Marui Bunta, Sanada and your sister are doubles partners. They're talking about entering one of the open tournaments sometime next term."

"They're a doubles pair?" Kippei asked, wondering if he was reading too much into this. It was just that in the guys' tennis team, being doubles partners was synomymous with dating, Seigaku's Golden Pair and Hyotei's Silver Pair being prime examples. Honestly, he should have known that Fuji would be up to date with the gossip: he seemed to be friends with everyone.

"Mm."

"That's 6-3, our win," Yukimura announced on the court below them,  
his clear voice carrying easily in the still air, though the slightly sour look on Sanada's face said that he was perfectly capable of keeping score himself and didn't need to have his loss rubbed in. "Who knows, Genichirou, we might make a doubles player of you yet."

Kippei couldn't quite catch Sanada's reply but he could clearly see as his younger sister reached up to kiss his cheek and steal his hat. Sanada seemed to be blushing slightly, though Yukimura was laughing again.

An left the court with the other girl, no one Kippei recognised, and stopped short as she looked into the bleachers and caught sight of him.

"Nii-san!" she called and suddenly he had an armful of An-chan and sat down on the bench behind him rather abruptly.

"You're playing well, An. Looks like Rikkai was the right more for your game."

"Is tennis all you think about nii-san?" she demanded. Kippei couldn't help but smile - he'd missed his forthright younger sister. "No, don't answer that. You know Yukimura-senpai, right?"

Kippei nodded politely at the other player. Of course he knew Yukimura, who didn't on the school tennis circuit. They were both national level players: they knew each other's reputation even if they'd never played.

"And this is my boyfriend, Genichirou," An finished, still beaming at him. Kippei couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Sanada. The other boy was carefully avoiding his eyes. He knew who Sanada was as well, he'd just always pegged the boy as gay. To be frank, rumour on the circuit had it that he was dating Yukimura, though that clearly wasn't the case given that Yukimura was there and hadn't even blinked at An's declaration. At least, not if An wasn't more adventurous than he thought she was. A threesome with two of the most powerful players even on the senior high circuit was a bit much even for her.

"Your boyfriend, hm? And when were you planning on telling me about this, ne?"

"I thought it would be safer to tell you in person. You're not exactly rational when it comes to me dating."

"Really now?"

"Not that it makes much difference. We're dating and that's final. That is, unless you want me to tell Mum what you and Fuji were doing on that camping holiday."

"What do you mean, An-chan?" Fuji asked, the picture of innocence. Thankfully, that was the image Kippei's mother had of him else she'd never have allowed said trip. "I was really lucky to have an assistant like Kippei-kun. Some of the pictures I took on that trip actually got published you know."

She graced him with a flat look. His smile didn't even waver as she turned her attention back to her brother.

"I hate to interrupt," Yukimura said, disrupting his attempt to stare her down. "But Genichirou and I will miss the train if we don't get going. We'll be down again on Wednesday, if you'd like to meet up. I'd be interested in a match with you sometime, Tachibana-kun. You were looking strong at Nationals."

Kippei was suddenly the former captain again and not the older brother as he smiled at Yukimura and nodded politely to them as Yukimura hurried Sanada away.

Once they were safely out of sight, Kippei turned back to An and Fuji, who he was sure had known exactly what was going on.

"So, any explanation for me?"

Fuji laughed.

"Quite frankly, she was going to start dating eventually and I thought you'd rather it was Sanada than say Niou, so I didn't interfere. Sanada's very traditional, a perfect gentleman. He's not about to try anything she's not ready for. Besides, he's cute when he blushes."

"If I didn't know you were joking about htat, I'd get jealous. Fine, there's clearly nothing I can do. Is your friend up to a match with the three of us, An? We can talk about this later."


End file.
